After sharing his expertise on both a national and international level, a Bay labour law expert has added another feather to his highly decorated cap after attaining his doctorate at the Nelson Mandela University summer graduation.
Advocate Luvuyo Bono was capped on Wednesday with his Doctorate in Labour Law (LLD) for his thesis titled “The South African Essential Services System: Compliance with International Standards”.
Born and bred in New Brighton, Bono has fostered his passion for education and equality which has seen him head various councils, set up collaborative partnerships — both locally and internationally — and mediate several critical wage negotiations in the public and private sector.
“I am a local boy who now practices labour law internationally,” Bono said.
“I am also the chair of the Education Labour Relations Council, which has a partnership with Rutgers University in the US where we are developing a concept of collaborative partnerships between management and labour unions.
“This is the new order in labour relations and is currently being piloted in SA.
“Besides being recognised by Nelson Mandela University and given the status of Adjunct Professor [since 2019], I currently serve on the Rules Board of the Labour Court and the Labour Appeal Court.”
Bono’s qualifications include B. Juris (Vista University) in 1994, LLB (Vista University) in 1999 and LLM Degree (labour law) (University of Port Elizabeth) in 2001.
He was admitted as an advocate of the high court in 2000.
While he is renowned for being in the media handling high-profile labour relations work, his thesis investigates and critiques the essential service system in SA.
The study analysed the South African essential services system and compared it to the New Zealand and Australian systems.
Bono joined the Essential Services Committee (ESC) in 2012, making him the ideal candidate for the research topic according to his supervisor for the thesis, Prof Adriaan van der Walt, who is the head of the Labour and Social Security Law Unit at NMU.
“In 2013 there were major amendments to the Essential Service Law that were proposed, I had to quickly apprise myself and also contribute to those amendments, which I did,” Bono said.
“The amendments were passed and were effective from January 1 2015.
“Though the amendments have been progressive and have grown the work of the ESC, there are still challenges.
“These include compliance with essential service laws and prescripts.
“This was evident in the recent public service strike where public health services were disrupted due to the strike.
“Part of what the [PhD] research does is to look at best practices on compliance and to propose these for SA’s essential services law.”
He said while the right to strike for essential service employees was partially restored with the 2015 amendments, a strike was mostly seen by workers as an action of unity which, in turn, made minimum services less effective in this regard.
“The ESC tries by all means to balance the right to strike with the right to render essential services.
“Right across the world and as led by the International Labour Organisation, employees rendering essential services have compensatory benefits for losing their right to strike.
“The compensatory benefits are through interest arbitrations.
“In SA, interest arbitrations have not found favour.”
Should an arbitrator find in favour of the union in an interest arbitration, that award is not binding until it has been approved by parliament, failing which, the matter must be sent back to the CCMA for a further conciliation.
“This completely undermines the principles of arbitration, which are that an award is final and binding.
“This anomaly is not found anywhere else in the world.
“It is a South African phenomenon which might not even pass the constitutional muster.”
Bono has again contributed to forthcoming essential services amendments for the Labour Relations Act.
HeraldLIVE
Nelson Mandela Bay labour law expert secures doctorate at NMU
New Brighton-born Bono has diverse experience at national and international level
Image: Supplied
After sharing his expertise on both a national and international level, a Bay labour law expert has added another feather to his highly decorated cap after attaining his doctorate at the Nelson Mandela University summer graduation.
Advocate Luvuyo Bono was capped on Wednesday with his Doctorate in Labour Law (LLD) for his thesis titled “The South African Essential Services System: Compliance with International Standards”.
Born and bred in New Brighton, Bono has fostered his passion for education and equality which has seen him head various councils, set up collaborative partnerships — both locally and internationally — and mediate several critical wage negotiations in the public and private sector.
“I am a local boy who now practices labour law internationally,” Bono said.
“I am also the chair of the Education Labour Relations Council, which has a partnership with Rutgers University in the US where we are developing a concept of collaborative partnerships between management and labour unions.
“This is the new order in labour relations and is currently being piloted in SA.
“Besides being recognised by Nelson Mandela University and given the status of Adjunct Professor [since 2019], I currently serve on the Rules Board of the Labour Court and the Labour Appeal Court.”
Bono’s qualifications include B. Juris (Vista University) in 1994, LLB (Vista University) in 1999 and LLM Degree (labour law) (University of Port Elizabeth) in 2001.
He was admitted as an advocate of the high court in 2000.
While he is renowned for being in the media handling high-profile labour relations work, his thesis investigates and critiques the essential service system in SA.
The study analysed the South African essential services system and compared it to the New Zealand and Australian systems.
Bono joined the Essential Services Committee (ESC) in 2012, making him the ideal candidate for the research topic according to his supervisor for the thesis, Prof Adriaan van der Walt, who is the head of the Labour and Social Security Law Unit at NMU.
“In 2013 there were major amendments to the Essential Service Law that were proposed, I had to quickly apprise myself and also contribute to those amendments, which I did,” Bono said.
“The amendments were passed and were effective from January 1 2015.
“Though the amendments have been progressive and have grown the work of the ESC, there are still challenges.
“These include compliance with essential service laws and prescripts.
“This was evident in the recent public service strike where public health services were disrupted due to the strike.
“Part of what the [PhD] research does is to look at best practices on compliance and to propose these for SA’s essential services law.”
He said while the right to strike for essential service employees was partially restored with the 2015 amendments, a strike was mostly seen by workers as an action of unity which, in turn, made minimum services less effective in this regard.
“The ESC tries by all means to balance the right to strike with the right to render essential services.
“Right across the world and as led by the International Labour Organisation, employees rendering essential services have compensatory benefits for losing their right to strike.
“The compensatory benefits are through interest arbitrations.
“In SA, interest arbitrations have not found favour.”
Should an arbitrator find in favour of the union in an interest arbitration, that award is not binding until it has been approved by parliament, failing which, the matter must be sent back to the CCMA for a further conciliation.
“This completely undermines the principles of arbitration, which are that an award is final and binding.
“This anomaly is not found anywhere else in the world.
“It is a South African phenomenon which might not even pass the constitutional muster.”
Bono has again contributed to forthcoming essential services amendments for the Labour Relations Act.
HeraldLIVE
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